The U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS), Habitat Conservation Division, St. Petersburg, FL, intends to procure a study on the assessment of the ichthyoplankton community and water current dynamics at the known reef fish spawning sites in Puerto Rico: LaParguera and Cabo Rojo to be conducted by the University of Puerto Rico. The purpose of this project is to determine the most important spawning areas for economically and ecologically important reef fish, such as the yellow tail snapper, using studies of current flow to track nutrient availability within the reef ecosystem, monitoring and characterization of reefs. Based on previous studies integrating current mapping and nutrient availability within some of Puerto Rico's reef systems, it has been found that currents can be used to map nutrient flow and therefore, determine abundance of reef fish larvae. The objective would be to determine, in areas around the island where reefs are abundant such as La Parguera, Culebra, Vieques, Fajardo, Jobos, Guanica, Guayanilla, Desecheo and Mona, which are most important on the basis of abundance and diversity of reef fish larva and use these data to establish spawning habitat protection zones on the basis of accessibility/feasibility as well as science. The University of Puerto Rico' Marine Sciences Department has the technical capability, facilities, and space available for this project. More importantly, the Marine Sciences Department has the equipment necessary to perform the current studies, water column physical profiles, and ichtyoplankton collection. The Department also has the only marine research vessel available in Puerto Rico. The intended procurement is for research for which the Government intends to acquire from one source, The University of Puerto Rico, under the authority of FAR 6.302-1. This is not a request for proposals and there is no solicitation available at this time. The Government reserves the right to solicit proposals based on receipt of affirmative responses to this notice or issue a purchase order to The University of Puerto Rico, whichever is determined to be most advantageous to the Government, without further notice. All interested parties must submit in writing the following: name; address; point of contact; telephone number; business size and a brief statement regarding it's capability to provide the specified research and the names; telephone numbers; and points of contact for businesses or other Government agencies to which it has previously provided similar research. No response will be provided to those inquiries which fail to provide the information requested. This information should be faxed to 816-426-7530, Attn: Sharon Clisso. A determination by the Government not to compete this requirement is solely within the discretion of the Government. The NAICS code is 541710. The small business standard is 500 employees. This is not a small-business set-aside. The research will be purchased under the guidelines of FAR, Part 13, Simplified Acquisitions Procedures.

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